Underappreciated Literature Gems

TheFacelessOne

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Feb 13, 2009
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Recently, I have been very addicted to the Ender's Game series. I swear, it's like readable crack.

But sadly, this book series doesn't get much attention (at least where I am) or is even well known. Which is really, really sad and makes me very sad because the books are very good and Orson Scott Card is a good author.

So, have you ever loved a book that is not well known?
 

Cherry Cola

Your daddy, your Rock'n'Rolla
Jun 26, 2009
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"The Long Ships" by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson.

It's well-known in Sweden, but more people need to read it! It's about the viking Red Orm and his adventures over the world.
 

reg42

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Mar 18, 2009
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Garth Nix's Shade's Children was wonderfully dark. I really enjoyed it.
The thing is that he doesn't usually write things as gritty as that. Which isn't to say that his well known stuff is bad (It's really good), it's just that Shade's Children was his best novel IMO, and I wish he'd write something with the same dark sense of humour.
AngloDoom said:
Before anyone else says it: Twilight.

*Step backs, raises flame-shield.*
Except that it's hugely popular? Maybe not on these forums, but the Twilight fanbase is massive.
 

riskroWe

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May 12, 2009
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Before anyone else says it: Reading's for squares.

*Step backs, raises flame-shield.*
 

revjay

Everybody's dead, Dave.
Nov 19, 2007
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Fred Saberhagen's Swords Saga and his stuff about vampires. I was a huge fan of the Berserker series and liked these two sets at least as much. So yeah books instead of book but all of Saberhagens library deserves to be read if one like sci-fi and/or fantasy.
 

Matthew Wilson

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Apr 27, 2010
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The Catcher in the Rye. Still popular but gets too much stick over nothing. Ignore the 'controversial' bullshit and read it.
 

bigolbear

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May 18, 2009
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Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole - possibly the least well known contemporary classic of all time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confederacy_of_Dunces
 

Shpongled

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Apr 21, 2010
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Matthew Wilson said:
The Catcher in the Rye. Still popular but gets too much stick over nothing. Ignore the 'controversial' bullshit and read it.
Reading through the book myself i couldn't help but feel the only reason it ever became so popular was because was because of how controversial it was. It wasn't a bad book per se, but it certainly wasn't anything special.
 

Ldude893

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Apr 2, 2010
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AngloDoom said:
Before anyone else says it: Twilight.

*Step backs, raises flame-shield.*


"Sir, I think someone just said the T-word."
"Fire at will."
 

Loves2spooge

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Apr 13, 2009
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Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland.

No one I know has read it, which is a shame because there's so much to say about it.
 

TheFacelessOne

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Ldude893 said:
AngloDoom said:
Before anyone else says it: Twilight.

*Step backs, raises flame-shield.*


"Sir, I think someone just said the T-word."
"Fire at will."


"Twilight Bomber to Overlord, we're over the Twilight Lover."
"Drop bombs, drop bombs!"
 

Layz92

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May 4, 2009
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The "Watch" series of books by Sergei Lukyanenko. I have read them all and they rock. They won't ruin the movies made about them either because the movies have little in common other than character names and a few scenes that they take from books later in the series etc. Also the books George Carlin wrote, When Will Jesus Bring the Porkchops etc.
 

Grike

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Finally made a profile jsut to post on this board :p

The best series I've ever read is called the "Hungry City Chronicles", by Philip Reeve. First book is called "Mortal Engines", and the only problem I've ever had with the series is that can't get it on my darn Kindle.
 

goingfishing11

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Apr 8, 2010
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I would agree that Orson Scott Card is one of the best science fiction writers out there. Although he may not seem mainstream, his fanbase is quietly huge.

Garth Nix's "Shade's Children" was very good as well, and one of my top science fiction reads. Nix does some really good work, especially with "Sabriel."

My underrated literature gem is "Infoquake" by David Louis Edelman. It's classified as part of the cyberpunk genre. The world reminds me a lot of Ghost In the Shell, where people's bodies can be synthetic, people are using avatars for communication, and their minds are cyberized. The book is one of three, so we'll see where the series goes, but so far I'm highly enjoying it.